Greece Flashcards
What are civilizations shaped by?
Their environment
Geography is destiny
What did Greece not have?
blessed land, no natural resources
What did Greece have?
olive oil
pottery
wine
Why was Greece lucky geographically?
Close enough for trading but far enough to avoid attacks
What was the first Greek civilization?
Minoans who arose on the island of Crete
Ruled for 600 years, from 2000 to 1400 BC
Who were the Minoans replaced by?
Myceneans
part of the Indo-Europeans
they learn art, architecture, writing, and trade from Minoans and then destroy them
How were the Myceneans politically organized?
Into dozens of independent city-states
What is Mycenae?
200,000 populated
largest city-state
started greek mythology
What happened to the Myceneans?
wiped out by pastoralists peoples in 1100 even though the King of Pylos knew attack was coming
What happens in 1100BC, after lost of the Myceneans?
all art, architecture, reading, writing, and population growth stops
leads to Dark Age 1100-800 BC
What happens in 800 BC?
a turning point from dark age to archaic age
What ‘good stuff’ happens in Archaic Age?
Greece gets replaced by Greeks population increases size and number of cities increases Greeks engage in trade and importing again Send out colonies across Europe
What tech did the Greeks borrow and from whom?
Egyptians: columns
Lydians: coinage, impacts trade
Phonecians: system of writing, alphabet
What caused political and military change in Greece?
learning about iron, impacts war tactics
What did iron lead to, militarily?
the polite, a Greek soldier w/iron equipment
iron is more accessible to the common person
Greek warfare increases dramatically
What connection exists in military and politics?
If you can afford to serve, you could vote and participate in government
since iron is more accessible, more people are involved in politics
What did iron lead to, politically?
the polis (cities)
What is a polis?
a city that is governed by an assembly, not king or president
What is a polis the first example of?
democracy
What can citizens do in the assembly?
attend make proposals join in the debate vote shows freedom of speech
What were the requirements to participate in the assembly?
be male
not an alien (must be a natural born of the polis)
not a slave
What is an oligarchy?
ruled by the few
most prevalent type (Sparta)
only hoplites could participate
10% of population (hoplites) had political rights
What is a democracy?
ruled by the many
example: Athens
all male citizens allowed to participate
if couldn’t be a hoplite, you joined the navy
20-30% of population had political rights
What did the Greeks have for their nations?
great patriotism to keep the political rights
